Monday, 14 December 2009

Review: Laura Mercier Thickening and Building Mascara

A while back, I had a makeover at Laura Mercier, and one of the things I walked away with was the Thickening and Building mascara, in black. I can't find a decent pack shot, so we'll go straight into the in-use pictures - the photo on the left is after two coats.

The mascara has a fairly fat brush with dense bristles - nothing particularly unusual or gimicky. The number of bristles helps to really grab each lash and coat it with mascara, whilst giving good separation too. The formula of the mascara itself works really well with the brush; it's thick, but also fairly slow-drying, so you can make sure your lashes are evenly coated and not clumpy before it dries. So, thumbs up for the formula and the brush.

The description given on the Space NK website claims that this mascara is waterproof. It is not. I dampened my fingers and pressed them against my eyelashes and immediately my eye was a runny black mess. The description also claims that the formula is "smudge and flake resistant", and as illustrated by the photo to the right, this is also not true. After a days wear, my under eye area had both flakes and smudges galore, more than I've had with any mascara in the past.

So, although I love the formula, the brush, and the effect of this mascara, the terrible wear really ruins the whole product for me. When paying for a premium brand, I expect the whole package, and this just doesn't have it!

If you'd like to try this for yourself, you can get it at Space NK, for £15.66 for 5.7g.